Thesis Eleven is delighted to share details of the first public event in the inaugural Bauman Memorial Conversations, a new biennial series of public dialogues hosted by the Bauman Institute.
The 2026 Conversations, “Thinking Displacement,” will explore displacement in its human, ecological, and intellectual dimensions. The first conversation will be held online on March 25, 2026.
Speaker: Professor James Smithies
Co-Chairs: Prof Joy Damousi and Prof Peter Beilharz
Convener: A/Prof Rachel Busbridge
When: Friday 1 August 2-4pm AEDT.
Where: Australian Catholic University, Melbourne Campus
by Siniša Malešević
War is not an exception that suddenly interrupts normal social life. Nearly every aspect of social life including the governance structures, social hierarchies, gender and sexual relations, religious identities, class dynamics, ethno-racial stratification, educational practices, heath systems or the administrativeand administrative apparatuses have all been molded by legacies of specific wars. Whether we like it or not, warfare has historically been and remains a norm that constantly shapes our social order.
Despite strong criticism, functional reasoning is still present in social theory and research. However, references often remain hidden. As a consequence, potentials cannot unfold, nor shortcomings be reflected. Starting from this consideration, our special issue aims to reconsider the potentials and shortcomings of functional lines of thinking in current sociology.
Contributors: Alain Caillé, José Fernando Andrade Costa, Jorge Sola, Christine Magerski, Rafael Alvear, Céline Charlotte Casmir, Sean Braune, Chris Rojek, Jake Sokolofsky, Bernardo Paci, Gavin Rae, Mikkel Thorup, Alexander Kruglov and John Lechte
by Carlo Bordoni
If there are any records in Italian sociology, Franco Ferrarotti (1925-2024) conquered them all: the youngest full professor of Sociology at the Sapienza University in Rome, winner in 1961 of the first and (at that time) only chair in his discipline. He was also the founder of journals and degree courses (such as the one in Sociology at the University of Trento), a diplomat, translator, editorial and research director, in the course of a long and incessant activity that has rightly been defined as multifaceted, due to the insatiable variety of interests and aspects he touched upon.
by Jeffrey C. Alexander
For many decades, Peter has been not only a thought partner but also an intimate friend, a thoughtful friend, a friendly fellow thinker, the other side of a personal and intellectual relationship I cannot think to be without.
by Francois Dubet and Michel Wieviorka
Alain Touraine died in Paris 9 June 2023. Thesis Eleven is proud to honour his memory with this homage co-authored by Francois Dubet and Michel Wieviorka. The essay was originally published in La Vie des idées and translated into English for Thesis Eleven by David Roberts
Bernard Lahire (trans. Helen Morrison), The Sociological Interpretation of Dreams (Wiley, 2020)
Reviewed by John Lechte (Macquarie University)
Contributors: Peter Wagner, Frédéric Vandenberghe, Florence Chiew, Domonkos Sik, Nicholas Holm, Tyson E. Lewis, Todd Madigan, Brad West, Jon Piccini, Claire Colebrook and Brooke Wilmsen
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